Z14 (Zombie Rules) (31 page)

             
“Alright, you two wait out here. Oh, and I need to emphasize to you two not to shoot into the store. If I get shot, whether it’s by accident or not, I’m shooting back. Stay by the truck and mind your sectors of fire. If any hostiles approach, either sound the horn, or start shooting.”

             
They grinned and nodded in understanding.

             
Julie and I did a fast, dynamic entry and cleared the path to the building materials section quickly and silently. There were no other zombies, only a few putrefied corpses. Most of the inventory was gone, the shelves empty. But, as I suspected, there was plenty of five gallon buckets of asphalt sealer, along with some swabs. I grabbed a flat cart and loaded up. Julie guarded me as I pushed it out. I stopped suddenly and saw another item we could use, termite poison. There were several five gallon cans. I loaded all of them. When I was done, the cart must have weighed over three hundred pounds. I was breathing heavily when I finally got it pushed outside. Rowdy saw me, got out, and helped me load it all in the truck.

             
“What’s the sealer for?” Andie asked.

             
“The driveways.” I smiled at her confusion. “We’ve got to keep up the maintenance of our property.” I explained. “Same thing for the termite poison.”

             
“There are some gas pumps over yonder.” Rowdy said, while pointing. “I reckon we should check.” I agreed. I was going to tell him the chances were slim, but he’d need to find out for himself. Andie joined him as he walked over to them.

             
“Andie needs clothes.” Julie observed as we watched her pull her pants up over her skinny butt. I chuckled.

             
“Next on the list I guess. There’s a sporting goods store down the road. We’ll give it a try and see if there are any hunting clothes left. I may be wrong, but I’m guessing she hasn’t worn a dress since kindergarten.” I said.

             
“I’m going to need some bigger pants as well, feel.” She put my hand on her baby bump. It had definitely grown in size. I rubbed it softly.

             
“Mmm, that feels good.” She cooed. I was interrupted by Rowdy waving at us. I sighed and stopped. “We’ll continue this later.” She said. I patted her on the butt in agreement as we got in the truck and drove to the end of the parking lot where the gas pumps were located.

             
“Hoss, how in the hell do you get this here gas cap off of the storage tank?” Rowdy asked.

             
“Yeah, Hoss, show him how it’s done.” Julie mocked. I gave her a look. She smiled sweetly at me.

             
“Okay you two, watch close. It’s actually fairly simple, but you’ve got to be careful with static electricity.” I pulled out the bolt cutters, grounded them, and then snapped the lock. The cap opened right up.

             
“Alright, that’s step one. Andie, there is a length of string in the truck with a couple of lead fishing weights tied on the end. Grab it and bring it over here.” She complied without complaint. I dropped the weighted end and it struck the bottom of the tank with a clang. I shook my head.

             
“Bone dry.” Andie said. I nodded in agreement.

             
“I was afraid of that. Most of these tanks were emptied long ago.” I held up the rope. “This is a simple way to check. The only disadvantage is if you find a tank with fuel, the rope gets wet, so you can’t tell how much is in the next tank you check until you let the rope dry out.” They nodded in understanding.

             
“You’ve seemed to have thought of everything Zach.” Rowdy said. “I’m glad I found you guys.” He smiled, but I honestly thought he was about to tear up. “It was a long winter.” He added quietly. Andie grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

             
“Alright, load up, we have other places to check and I’m going to show you two how to siphon gas out of motor vehicles.”

             
The sun was on the horizon as we headed home. It had been a successful day. We found enough diesel fuel to fill most of the cans and new clothes for Andie. There was even a case of trail mix hidden under a pile of clothes on a shelf in the sporting goods store.

             
Our good feelings ended as we got closer to home. The first thing I saw was an inordinate amount of smoke in the sky. There was a pit in my stomach and it was growing quickly.

             
And then we saw it. Julie gasped.

             
“Oh, my God.” She said. It was Fred’s home, and it was totally engulfed in flames.

              They secured the plane and spent the night inside it. Even though the doors were secured, Sarah insisted having a guard on duty. Each of them took two hour shifts. Fred was the second to the last shift and Sarah was going to take the four to six. Fred opted to let her catch up on her sleep. He knew he wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep anyway.

             
He quietly watched the three of them sleep. Sarah was sleeping fitfully, her arms and legs twitching occasionally. The two love birds, he finally learned her name was Sabrina Smith and she was an Airman First Class, had laid out some sleeping bags on the floor and were now snuggled up together, blissfully asleep.

             
Fred’s thoughts went back to the apartment. He had knocked softly on the door and heard the telltale noises a moment later. He knew there was an infected individual inside his daughter’s apartment, but he had to see for himself. When he kicked the door open, the zombie caught the impact of the door and flew backwards into the room. Fred watched as his daughter, or rather, what was once his daughter, climb back to her feet. She then launched herself at him. Fred had instinctively drawn his revolver and fired. Another one emerged from a back bedroom a second later, another female. It was probably Betsy’s roommate. Fred put her out of commission as well.

             
Fred seemed to have zoned out afterward. He didn’t remember setting fire to the apartment, nor did he seem to remember his ensuing actions. His next conscious thought was Sarah yelling at him. If not for her, he would probably be still standing out there, waiting for the zombies to attack him. He heard some movement outside and snuck a peek out of a window.

             
“What is it, Fred?” Sarah whispered, startling him. He turned to see she had awakened and sat up. He stepped softly as he walked over to her.

             
“There are three or four of them wandering around out there.” He said. Sarah looked at her watch and frowned at him.

             
“You were supposed to wake me two hours ago.”

             
“I wasn’t tired, and you needed your sleep. There may be others out there. Are we going to need access to the outside of the plane, or can we start up and fly off?” Fred asked. She shook her head.

             
“I wish it were that simple. We’ll need to go outside. There are pre-flight checks and procedures which are required.” She pointed at the other two. “I didn’t know they had a thing for each other.” Fred shrugged and looked out the window.

             
“They’re moving like molasses. Since I know nothing about flying, why don’t I take care of them while you three get the plane ready?”

             
“What do you have in mind?” Sarah asked.

             
“I’m going to draw them away from the plane. They’re so slow, I think I can merely walk in a big circle until I hear the engines turn over, and then I’ll run back.”

             
“Why don’t we just shoot them all?” Sergeant Fandis asked. He had awakened while we were talking and was listening to our conversation.

             
“We want to avoid making noise as long as possible. Rule number two, they’re attracted to noise.”

             
“What are these rules you keep referring to?” Sarah asked.

             
“A very smart young man I know wrote up a list of rules. They’ve come in handy.” Fred said. “I’ll write them down for you, if you like.” He looked at the three of them. “Well, let’s get this dance started.”

             
They lowered the ramp and Fred took off at a jog. Sarah watched him as he ran with those ridiculous cowboy boots and made a mental note to get him squared away with some combat boots when they got back to Tinker. Fred jogged twenty feet away from the plane, and then stopped. He stomped his foot a couple of times, and when he had the zombies attention, he started fast walking out toward the opposite end of the tarmac. The zombies hungrily followed.

“Alright you two, we’ve got work to do. Did you find a fuel truck anywhere aro
und here Sergeant?” Sarah asked.

             
“We did ma’am, but the battery is dead on it.” Sergeant Fandis replied.

             
Sarah sighed. “Alright, get the start cart hooked up and start preflight checks. Smith, you and I are going to take the Humvee over to that tanker and see if we can jump it off. I don’t need to remind you two to keep an eye out for those things.”

             
“Shouldn’t someone keep an eye on Fred, ma’am?” Sergeant Fandis asked.

             
“If you hear him shooting, that means he needs help. Let’s get moving.”

             
Fred stomped on the asphalt occasionally to keep their attention, and the zombies eagerly followed. They were at irregular intervals, and he noticed one of them was several feet ahead of the others. He was very tall, well over six feet, and wearing a dirty Air Force uniform. Fred increased his stride, saw a shovel lying in the weeds beside the tarmac and headed toward it. He picked it up as he kept walking and tested the handle. It was still sturdy.

             
“Yep, I think you’ll do nicely.” Fred quietly said to the shovel as he walked toward a crashed plane. He stepped around some of the wreckage, gave himself a little room, and waited. The tall soldier/zombie came near and stepped around the wreckage. Fred rightly assumed having to turn a corner was difficult for them. He reminded himself to tell Zach what he had discovered.

The zombie’s rasping noises increased and he struggled to align himself to where Fred was standing. Fred buried the shovel in the zombie’s skull, wriggled it free, and waited for the next one.
When he had dispatched all of them, he made a wide circle back to the plane. He discovered no other zombies. The three soldiers were waiting for him.

             
“Where are the zombies?” Sergeant Fandis asked.

             
“I took care of them.” Fred answered. Sergeant Fandis saw all of the goo on the shovel blade, and pointed at it.

             
“With a shovel?” He asked. Fred nodded. “Holy shit, Fred.”

             
“I wanted to keep the noise to a minimum. How are we doing here?”

             
Sarah had a calculator out and was scribbling on her kneepad. She ignored Fred.

             
“We found a fuel truck, but the gas was contaminated with water. The Major is crunching the numbers. If we had a J model, this wouldn’t be an issue. But, we don’t.” He pointed at the plane. “It’s an older, E model. If we don’t have enough fuel to get back to Tinker, we’re going to resort to plan B.” Sergeant Fandis said. Sabrina looked at him, perplexed.

             
“What’s plan B?” She asked.

             
“Hell if I know.” He responded with a boyish grin.

             
Sarah looked up and sighed. “We’ll have enough, but only if we don’t encounter any strong headwinds. Sergeant Fandis, be prepared to dump the Humvee, if necessary. Alright, let’s get underway.”

             
Fred kept guard while the two enlisted soldiers completed the ground duties. Once the start cart was secured and the ramp closed, Fred went into the cockpit, strapped himself in, and put a helmet on. Sarah warmed the engines, checked the numerous gauges, and slowly turned the plane around. Satisfied she was not going to encounter a stray plane coming in for a landing, she moved the throttles forward and had the plane airborne a minute later.

             
“Keep an eye on those fuel gauges, cowboy.” She said after a minute.

             
“Yes ma’am.” Fred replied.

             
They flew in silence for the next hour. At one point, Fred pointed to one of the gauges. Sarah flipped a switch, which began drawing fuel from the starboard fuel cell. Sarah had her hands full, but she occasionally looked at Fred out of the corner of her eye.

             
She keyed up her microphone. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asked.

             
“There’s not much to talk about. I found her and she was infected. I apologize for wasting your time.”